A PARISIAN- style entrance planned for Liverpool's Central Library has been branded a "cat flap" by the city's council leader.

A PARISIAN- style entrance planned for Liverpool's Central Library has been branded a "cat flap" by the city's council leader.

The all-glass entrance standing out from the library's main entrance is the centrepiece of a #30m plan unveiled by council officials.

They say that the work on transforming the neighbouring Walker Art Gallery and Liverpool Museum in William Brown Street will overshadow the library with its unimposing entrance.

So they turned to the Louvre and the Modern Tate in London for inspiration and came up with a startling glass entrance to bring the entrance to the library out into the open.

But Coun Mike Storey has told officials they should go away and rethink the glass entrance.

He said: "It looks something like a cat flap sandwiched between the Museum and the Walker and it will spoil what is one of the most impressive street frontages anywhere in the world. I will be opposed to it."

The council's culture and leisure executive member, Coun Frank Doran, said: "We cannot have a glass frontage now because it will always be known as the cat flap - we will be saddled with that name forever."

The library is destined to become the home of one of Britain's biggest archives which will be a key part of Liverpool's drive to become the European Capital of Culture in 2008.

Details of the scheme have been outlined to a meeting of the council's cabinet, the Executive Board.

City libraries chief Joyce Little outlined a number of options in a report to executive councillors.

Two of the schemes would each cost around #11m. But the project favoured would cost around #30m and lead to a radical re-development of the Central Library.

The aim is to show the building as the treasure it is, transforming it into a world-famous heritage site.

Ms Little says: "Investment in the Central Library and Cultural Quarter will present the city with a cultural icon and an 800th birthday present to the people of Liverpool when it celebrates its birthday in 2007."

There would be computers throughout the building and access to the latest digital technology. The circular Picton Library would house dynamic interactive displays and be the home for fabulous rare books and archives collections.

The library would also become the permanent home of the Liverpool Heritage Centre, with collections from the Liverpool Record Office, Family History Service and Local Archives all housed under one roof.

The aim would be to allow people from all over the world to access records to trace their family roots.

Funding would come from heritage funding, the National Lottery and European grants.

The project would take four years to complete and involve the temporary closure of the central library.

Coun Doran added: "Our Central Library already houses the busiest local authority record office in the country outside the public record office in Kew.

"This scheme will bring a building built in 1852 into the 21st century in a spectacular way."